Published 8:39 am, Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Photo: John Raoux — The Associated Press

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UConn’s Daniel Hamilton, left, was named to the AAC preseason first team while last year’s leading scorer Rodney Purvis, right, did not garner any preseason recognition. UConn was picked second in the conference behind SMU. less

UConn’s Daniel Hamilton, left, was named to the AAC preseason first team while last year’s leading scorer Rodney Purvis, right, did not garner any preseason recognition. UConn was picked second in ... more

ORLANDO, Fla. >> Daniel Hamilton earned first-team honors, Jalen Adams was tabbed the rookie of the year and the UConn men’s basketball team was picked to finish second in the AAC preseason coaches’ poll.

SMU was tabbed to win the conference, earning 98 points and eight of the 11 first-place votes. UConn garnered 87 points and two first-place votes. Cincinnati earned the only other first-place vote and was picked to finish third.

SMU, which returns three starters from last year’s 27-7 squad, is barred from postseason play due to academic improprieties involving guard Keith Frazier. The Mustangs won’t be able to play in the AAC tournament March 10-13 in Orlando, as well as the NCAA tournament or any other postseason tourney.

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AAC MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL

Team — Points

1. SMU (8) — 98

2. UConn (2) — 87

3. Cincinnati (1) — 84

4. Tulsa — 76

5. Memphis — 59

6. Temple — 54

7. Houston — 48

8. East Carolina — 31

9. UCF — 30

10. USF — 20

11. Tulane — 11

(First-place votes in parenthesis)

Player of the Year

Nic Moore, Sr. G, SMU

Rookie of the Year

Jalen Adams, Fr. G, UConn

First Team

*Nic Moore, Sr. G, SMU

*Markus Kennedy, Sr. F, SMU

Octavius Ellis, Sr. F, Cincinnati

Daniel Hamilton, So. G/F, UConn

James Woodard, Sr. G, Tulsa

Second Team

Troy Caupain, Jr. G, Cincinnati

Amida Brimah, Jr. C, UConn

Sterling Gibbs, Sr. G, UConn

Shaq Goodwin, Sr. F, Memphis

Shaquille Harrison, Sr. G, Tulsa

*— unanimous

Hamilton is joined by SMU’s Nic Moore, the preseason player of the year, and Markus Kennedy, Cincinnati’s Octavius Ellis and Tulsa’s James Woodard as first-team selections. Moore, the reigning AAC player of the year, and Kennedy were unanimous picks. Hamilton, a sophomore, was the league’s rookie of the year last season.

UConn’s Amida Brimah and Sterling Gibbs each earned spots on the second team. Brimah, a junior, was last year’s AAC defensive player of the year, while Gibbs, a grad senior from Seton Hall, was a second-team all-Big East selection last winter.

Rodney Purvis, the Huskies’ top returning scorer, did not garner any preseason recognition.

Adams, a point guard from Roxbury, Massachusetts, will likely be Gibbs’ backup this season. The rookie of the year award figured to go to either Adams or Memphis power forward D.J. Lawson, a McDonald’s All-American.

Joining Brimah and Gibbs on the second team are Cincinnati’s Troy Caupain, Memphis’s Shaq Goodwin and Tulsa’s Shaquille Harrison.